light me up, like a matchstick
by 1oooyears
Summary: He first sees her at a playgrounds, he's short and he has to look up to her, but when he does, it takes his breath away. / narusaku


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_light me up, like a matchstick_

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He first sees her at a playgrounds, he's short and he has to look up to her, but when he does, it takes his breath away.

_Sa-ku-ra, _it slips from his tongue like water. _Cherry Blossom, _he thinks, _like her hair, _he thinks. He fingers the froggy pouch in his pocket, _like the flower, _he reiterates.

_She's beautiful, _he thinks, watching as she fingers a ribbon in her hair, it's red against pink, and he's never been one for such a girly colour - but it's her, and he thinks she will always be beautiful, regardless of the shade of her hair, but because she's _Sakura, _and he just can't see imagine her deemed as anything _but._

_This is the beginning, _he thinks, _one day, I will be strong, and no one will hate me, and one day, _he takes in viridian eyes and flushed cheeks, _someone like that will be my friend._

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Sarutobi watches the child with reserved glee, _he truly is his mothers son, _he thinks, inhaling the scent of ramen and watching as Naruto babbles animately about _Sakura-chan _and _Ramen _and _Hey, Old Man, how do you think they-_

He may have been his fathers doopelganger, but he was his mother in everything else he did, loud, childish, obsessed with ramen, mischievous, yes, Kushina's son indeed.

He watches as suddenly Naruto stops, staring at the window, frozen.

He follows the blonde's gaze, and watches as a young girl, clings to a civilian woman, _a pinkette, _he muses, _such an unusual shade. _He turns to Naruto, who's red faced and shy, he smiles, _that must be Sakura, _ he chuckles when he sees Naruto's embarrassed face, _young love._

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_"-Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura-"_

He cheers jumping up and down, and he's so _happy, _because it's the girl who looks like a fairy, and chimes like the wind - and she's pretty much the girl of his dreams.

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He kind of falls for her, it isn't really hard and fast, but a wavering thing, one that skirts on the edges of important and meaningful. He shoots glances at her, he smiles to make her happy - and anyone else would reckon they're in love, but sometimes, when Naruto is alone, he kinda wonders shy he bothers - and the answer is always the same - _she's _**_sakura._**

_Yeah, he can settle for friendship, even if it hurts._

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It happens one day, when he isn't thinking (and it's kind of like everyday in that sense, but shhh) and his mouth and his brain can't work together and he makes this mistake of saying, _I love you. _She freezes, and he too, visibly tenses, it's almost comical the way her eyes get the size of a plate, and how her mouth slips open a little bit.

He curses his stupidity and looks down, why would- _how could he- why- stupid stupid- she doesn't-_

"I love you, too." He looks up, and for the first time in a awhile he thinks she is genuinely happy.

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They float in-between friends and _more than, _and he becomes her rock, and she becomes the steady thing in his life, the patch of pink he plans on never missing. Ever. Rumors of them decorate the village, _Konoha's mascot of a biju, and their idle of a healer, _they were perfect.

(he clings to these rumours and decides that he isn't getting nowhere pursuing the pinkette)

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They happen, eventually. It's kind of everything expects, so it's not as if he's disappointed or anything, but for awhile, it slows, and she slinks further away from him, as if worried he'll judge her, so yeah, it takes awhile, but slowly he reaches out, and she takes his metaphorical hand, and stands from the mud.

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They rise and fall, and it's kind of always been like that, wavering, ready to fall into the ocean, and eventually (which is kind of how you could sum up them, as a singular entity, _eventually) _she falls, and though it wavers, and it isn't easy to forget about everything she's told herself, but she does it, and she falls, _hard._

This is when they stop, _eventually-ing, _and when they stop _wavering - _because then, when all is accepted, confirmed, signed, delivered, they stand tall and solid and they just _be._

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He thinks the best part of it all is that his daughters hair is coral pink, and that never once in his life will he ever not see such a vibrant colour in his life - because it really brightens his day.

(he hopes the last thing he'll see will be that exact shade of pink)

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End file.
